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Opinion: Mounting evidence demands inquiry into large herd dairy farms
October 4th, 2009
By Bernard Hickey
Since we broke the story about animal neglect on a farm near Benneydale in the Crafar Farms group last week I have been deluged with emails and comments from many people in the rural community citing examples of animal neglect on other large herd dairy farms, as well as neglect on other Crafar Farms.
Unlike the video provided by ‘Just another farmer’, I have not been able to verify any of these claims. But they are unprompted and the details involved carry the ring of truth, if not proof itself. I’m in no position to investigate all this evidence in any systematic way. It’s time for the government, MAF, Fonterra, Federated Farmers and DairyNZ to step up and launch an official inquiry into the sustainability of New Zealand’s massive herd dairy farms in terms of their environmental sustainability (effluent treatment and water use) and in terms of animal neglect.
The growth in large herd dairying over the last decade has been explosive. Often funded by massive debt, these farms with more than 1,000 cows have changed the nature of dairying in New Zealand. They require a different style of management, different corporate structures, different ways of managing and recruiting staff, and different ways of managing animals.
New Zealand has never done a stock-take into a major change in the way we use land. It’s time to take a breather and work out whether this structural shift in our biggest export industry can be sustained without damaging our reputation, blowing out our our debts and putting massive strain on workers and animals.
The big conversions and irrigation driven expansion is continuing apace. Applications to build 19 farms with more than 22,000 cows on 25,000 hectares in the Mackenzie Basin are being considered by Environment Canterbury, the ODT has reported. This type of farming requires intensive irrigation and cows to be in cubicle barns in winter and parts of Summer.
Some tough questions need to be answered:
- Are we using water properly? Are large herd dairy farmers paying a fair price for that water?
- Are these large herd farms and their debt levels sustainable when they eventually have to pay for greenhouse emissions?
- Has some land been converted that is not sustainable without the Fonterra payout being higher than NZ$5/kg
- Are some large dairy farms financially unsustainable given likely long term payout levels and their current debt levels?
- Is the intensification of land use, particularly through nitrate leaching, destroying our waterways?
- Are the managers of these large herd farms, who are often employees and contractors rather than share milkers or owners, up to the task?
- Are the workers on these farms, who are often from the Philippines, India and Indonesia, well trained enough to keep themselves and their animals safe?
- Are the processes for monitoring animal welfare and staff welfare strong enough and well-funded enough?
- Is MAF focused too much on enabling growth in output and not enough on monitoring sustainability?
- Is Fonterra monitoring the quality of its suppliers/shareholders closely enough? Are its penalties and sanctions for suppliers strong enough?
- Is reform needed in the bobby calf industry, given prices are now so low it isn’t often economically viable to feed calves?
Why an inquiry might not happen
I’ve spoken to MAF Director General Murray Sherwin, Agriculture and Forestry Minister David Carter and Fonterra Chairman Henry Van der Heyden in the last week. I asked them all if they were concerned that the stunning growth of large herd dairy farms was unsustainable. None of them were worried.
The common view was that Crafar Farms was a bad apple that needed to be cut out of the industry. They are now working hard to do that as quickly as possible without further endangering the health of Crafar’s animals, its staff and the family itself.
I was repeatedly told that now was the time for the big boys to get on with it behind the scenes and get on with cutting out this one problem farmer. More would be achieved through back room deals than any public inquiries, they said.
But are they really committed to changing? It’s worth remembering that just last year David Carter himself challenged then Minister Jim Anderton about problems within MAF dealing with animal welfare issues, in particular the fact MAF has 5 inspectors for the whole country or 1 inspector per 10 million animals.
This is what the head of investigations at MAF, Greg Reid, had said a year ago.
The reality is at the moment we are so thin on the ground and we are running from bushfire to bushfire. A lot of what the public see is just the surface of it – it’s quite chaotic
It appears not much as changed if the reaction to ‘Just another farmer’s’ complaint is considered.
Murray Sherwin’s response when I asked about whether MAF had enough inspectors was to say that throwing money at the problem was not the solution. He defended MAF’s approach of working with farmers cooperatively to fix animal welfare issues rather than prosecuting.
One senior farming industry figure even suggested that Crafar Farms had improved markedly over the last year and needed more time for its changes to bed in.
Fonterra has never, from my knowledge, stopped collecting milk from a farm because of environmental or animal welfare problems.
It’s worth remembering that Allan Crafar was so popular within the industry that he was on Fonterra’s Shareholders Council for 6 years until 2007. His right hand man, Sam Webb, was Central Plateau Farm Manager of the Year in 2007. He also won the RD1 Farm Management Award and the Dairy Insight Human Resources Management Award.
Webb was managing Crafar’s largest farm at Taharua between Napier and Taupo Rd in 2007, Country Wide reported at the time. The farm has 4,521 cows and 15 staff milking cows from 4am to 10pm. It was seen as a model for the industry and hosted a field day for up to 100 farmers in 2007.
A year later Webb was prosecuted for releasing too much effluent on the Taharua Farm. The farm is blamed for polluting the Mohaka River, the DomPost reported.
Webb was the farm manager parachuted into the Benneydale property by Crafar when things went horribly pearshaped earlier this month. He was also the man who assaulted Bryan Spondre when he and I turned up to ask a few questions.
But it’s more than the Crafars
Here is the evidence below that has come to us via email, that was posted on our blog and that was posted on other blogs, including those at NZHerald and TradeMe. Problems range from neglect of cows, cows with broken tails, early induction of dead calves, rubber rings put on tits with mastitis and injured cows left in races and taking days to die.
The things I have seen. Tiny perfectly formed induced little bodies lying dead and dying in heaps around cowsheds. Every morning lines of labouring cows waiting to be helped with calving. If these cows had been seen to at an earlier time, much pain and suffering and more successful outcomes would have been achieved.
Outside bobby calf sheds calves that havent quite died yet left to dehydrate and die in the sun. Or wind. Or rain. Calves crook with Navel ill, something easily fixed with an antibiotic, not treated and left to die. Stretched out and suffering on the shed floor. Often being stood on by others because the pens are too full.
Induced cows foetuses dying inside them and becoming mummified. Induced cows dying just because inducing is rough on their metabolic systems.
Horns turning inwards and growing back into the skull, clearly obvious to the farmer, but left, just left. Cows. Broken Tail after broken tail after broken tail.200 lame cows in a herd of 700.
Rubber rings put on adult cows tails.
Diseased cows not seen by a vet in a timely manner.
Every good farmer knows a story, every vet, every AB tech, every bobby truck driver, every farm serviceman.Many people in the community know it, discuss it, shake their heads about it. But I reckon its time we made the dairy farmers own it. Its their industry. Its their leaders they have to shake up. I make a good bit of income from the dairy industry, I want it to succeed, but I am having an increasingly hard time living with this.
Storis like this are unfortunatly no news to me and I feel a bit confused about the whole thing. It was not that long ago that that Crafars and their property developer friends were the poster boys of the success story of NZ dairying and were going to save the country and make us all wealthy. Only very few people seemed to be concerned that the ever increasing average herd sizes would be an issue.
The moment the nz dairyindustry said goodbye to the familyfarm in pursuit of greater wealth for a few, we had to realise a 300 cow farm run by an owner operator or a 1500 cow farm run by staff often unmotivated and underpaid and owned by a property developer who has a few more farms like that are two completely different things.
We are now waking up to an industry that has grown to fast and have to face the consequences.
I’ve been farming all my life and occasionally I miss a fly stuck ewe or a cattle beast with a worm infestation or an infection. This is absolutely appalling yet its been common knowledge in the industry for years. We have big dairy farmers employing vets so they can continue to induce and if you think this is bad be around for the results of that. This is an affront to every Kiwi farmer that cares about his animals and always puts animals first,the NZ milk industry under Fonterra has completely lost its head,this will have consequences we need to brace ourselves .
Perhaps its time to dig up the photo of the tractor being driven down the road in the Central north Island with a live cow impaled on its silage forks while it moved its head from side to side. That was 2 years ago I think.
Ive been talking to some friends in the industry and general comments are this is not unusual although they are not happy about it but say nothing its honor amongst farmers i guess.
They have talked to me before about mastitis cows getting a rubber ring on the offending teet, but Im afraid its a result of farmers chasing capital gains and Fonterra paying more for milk than the market was paying, creating a huge bubble. Bankers have now become total fools.
I knew one of his managers when he worked in the South Island….Absolute plonker whose herd death rate was appaling. Only lasted the one season with the Farm Owner and eneded up working for Crafer as no one would employ him.Sources have told me his herd death rate is still unreal and where not talking about Calves either.
From this i would say most of Crafers farm workers are the unemployable in the industry and have no scrupples or animal welfare skills what so ever. I’m glad to say that this is a very small minority from dealings i have in the dairy industry and most farmers will be appalled. I urge Fonterra to stop taking there milk and close them down…although i suppose he’ll just end up supplying Talleys dairy industry which isn’t much better when it comes to clean buisness ethics!!!
Well this has been a long time coming and something we have discussed in lectures. ((Some)) farmers need to start thinking outside the square and about the long term sustainability of the industry if they want to survive, others are doing an amazing job of it already but keep getting dragged down by scenarios like this one.
Yes it’s tough to keep an eye on everything on a farm but the calves are generally always right where everybody can see them and so there are absolutely no excuses here, just gross negligence. New Zealand’s point of difference on the world stage is its clean green grass fed image. Our customers think about a place (NZ) they would love to be when they consume our products. Well what the hell will they think now then eh? I feel ashamed to be part of an industry with such fools running some of our largest agricultural enterprises.
Mr Crafar is not totally to blame here, as a farmer with so many farms He must need to place a huge amount of faith in his farm managers (like that nutter that hit the reporter). Sometimes in any industry the faith you had in someone proves to be a mistake, unfortunately more than once in the Crafars case.
Dairy NZ gets about 40 million dollars from milk levies a year for agricultural research and extension. This helps dairy farmers improve their business and achieve their targets, how about giving MAF some of those levies to ensure there will still be a dairy industry for students like me to work in when we graduate.
This farmer is not on his own with the treatment of calves you have demonstrated.
When it comes to the practice of the chemically inducing of healthy calves’ for a bit of extra milk to send to Fonterra, farmers seem not to hesitate using this practice.
If the public knew the full story of what happens behind the scenes on a dairy farm all hell would break loose.
About time though its taken years later
Hi there well I can vouch and say I have actually worked on the crafar’s farms to name a farm is in Reporoa on Goudies rd RD1 the 108 cup as/hb the one you have to start the boiler a few3-4 hrs first before you start milking. and Mangakino,there newer farms with the automatic cup removers and automatic shed a few actually in the past and I and one of My ex partner’s worked for them and I went through hell working for them.
I was brought up on farms too and have alot of experience of farming.but I can say this when you lean to farm you are to learn all the right way’s of things in farming that’s right?. well all i learned to do at his farm’s was to do all the wrong thing’s and all the bad thing’s and all the short cuts they show you.
I just want to say we tried to get help when we were working for them and as soon as i saw that shed with the Bobbi calf’s in i knew where it was and whose farm it was and I did take photo’s and video clips when we were working there and we did call Maf but because the new manager’s did not want to get involved there was no way they could do anything just with 2 people wanting to do something.
As there was not enough support to go any further to support what we had against the Crafar’s.I have no sympathy for Alan at all when I have seen him cut off a baby calf’s head off with a chainsaw because the cow was having issues of giving birth and he was a sick Man when he did that it made me sick that night he did that.
I have now moved on since then many yrs later and have a new partner,when we My ex and i was leaving there the new house was just finished that he lives in and he was just about to go to Australia to buy more farms to increase his farms,All i have to say is I do not recommend anyone to work for them at all,you wont get help from them or compensation or anything accidents are a normal and almost deadly thing everyday on their farms. that’s all I have to say but it’s about time they got the Bugger’s.
I saw the programme tonight and I have to say I have unfortunateley seen worse (usually where there are absentee owners and young workers, both with insufficient experience to recognise they have a problem…crafars don’t have that excuse).
I have seen some not as bad that I know MAF acted on within 1 day. The best thing that could happen to the NZ dairy industry is for the Crafars to get out of farming or downsize to something they can manage. The people that have the clout to make sure that happens are Fonterra…they claim to have a commitment to environmental and animal welfare standards yet they make themselves complicit by accepting milk from farms that let the rest of the industry down.
Maybe time for some 50:50 SM then
A lot of these big farms around are run by cowboy managers who don’t give a shit about the animals under their care, because no matter what happens they still get their cheque at each payday.
Having a stake in the animals under your care certainly puts a different slant on things. When one of my cows die (which doesn’t happen too often) it is a case of their is a stake in my equity that’s gone. Not just, oh well another dead cow. Also funny how the best operaters seem to be able to get good staff whereas circus masters can only employ monkeys!!
As much as I deplore what happened on TV
As much as I deplore what has happened, the sad fact is that there are a few farms like that, perhaps not as bad, but not good either, all that I know of are owned by big farm owners, with mulitple farms and not enough staff/good staff to overseer whats going on.
And the farm owners are too busy being members of boards to get out and look at their farms and what is going on. Had someone come in and TB test cows last week and she was saying she had been to a farm where the cows were so skinny is was disgusting, when asked if she had reported the farm to MAF, her reply was that it wasn’t her job.
To me that’s a cop-out and part of the problem, you can’t tell me that the bobbie calf truck drivers, vets and any other service personal didn’t see what was going on. As much as crafer needs to go I actually think the buck stops with the Mangaer on this one, it is not as if there wasn’t enough milk to feed the calves, just that no one was doing the job to any sort of degree.
Yes I have worked for them many yrs ago for a long time , and I know what they are like and he is to blame , he did not care way back then and why would he care now . like he said he does not care at all . he takes all the short cuts and does all the wrong things the wrong way and teaches all the wrong things to do and that’s his teachings and his way of learning . stop sticking up for him he is no angel
This whole debacle is in my view “a shot across the bow” of all absentee farm owners who either employ or contract people to manage their properties for them. There is also I feel a real issue that needs to be addressed in regards to some large scale operations that are simply too big and cumbersome to be competently managed by the vast majority of the population if indeed anyone.
I have worked around Dairy Farms as an Engineer and have seen many calves when they get sick they are just left to die not put to sleep , if they were Kittens or Puppys the owner would be prosecuted by SPCA and it would be all over the News .
But because it’s Farming it’s Ok ! Yeah Right No it’s not . I have seen a Cow who was so sick she lay Dying in the Lane way close to the shed all the 650Plus milking cow’s had to walk past her 4 times a day coming and going to Milking’s , many of them stopped to sniff her as she took several days to Die . The farmer could have carted her away with the farm loader to die in piece or to shoot her , instead of stressing all the other cows . This isn’t an isolated insident as I’ve seen it many time’s before in feed Paddocks or Creeks the cows some times get grass staggers or Nitrogen posioning or are just poorly feed with over numbers and lack of feed in a cold/wet season .
It’s a Shame on the Dairy industry as a Whole because it’s not just a few Farms .
Come on MAF you know its a problem and saying you don’t have the resources is BULL SH-T
I work in a related industry and have been waiting for something to come out of this nature this calving season. It’s an economic decision for the farmers. The farmers have 2 options, shoot them or pay the costs. With the number of calves born around the country running into hundreds of thousands, probably millions, it’s a huge problem for the dairy farmers this season. The works are paying very little for bobby calves. Last year skin prices were reasonable, and that is where the works made money of the calves. The veal yield is only around 7kg so there is very little money in that.
The farmers have to feed the calves for 4 days to get them to a “truckable” state. The money they are receiving this season from the works/petfood operators is less than the cost of keeping them alive for 4 days. When the dairy payout has declined so much for the farmers, cull calves are just another cost that they don’t need. The Craffers don’t have the heart to shoot them, hence the problem of suffering to death.
Some of the slinky operators aren’t even collecting dead calves as there is no money in the skins this season which creates another problem. These calves have to go somewhere, which one can assume is down a hole. I wonder how much water contamination will eventuate with all the leaching of dead animals?
As you are aware, this is not the one off as the dairy industry would have us believe. Didn’t we hear the same tired refrain on behalf of the pig farmers? Actually institutionalised cruelty is part and parcel of the industry and the only question we have to ask is where does one draw the line. Obviously these peasants have set new records. Part of the problem are the ignormuses most farms employ at the coal face, most of whom would need a manual to dress themselves.
But to really pin point the source of the problem one only has to follow the money. Numerous vets I have spoken to admit to witnessing numerous examples of abuse. In nearly all cases I have been told of their frustrations in dealing with that defunct entity MAF. If the vet complains to MAF, the culprit pretty swiftly drops them and uses another vet, preferably sporting a blind eye. The minister responsible David Carter once again deafens us with his silence. Time for him to fall on his sword.
This is just the tip of the ice berg. I have seen many cases of calves left to starve on dairy farms, and the SPCA is just not interested.
I doubt that this practice is restricted purely to the Crafar’s; I’ve seen similar on other farms. I have to question not only the farming practice but also the financial acumen of dairy farmers who take out all their Fonterra profits in milk solids payments leaving no retained earnings to fund future growth and diversification away from commodity product into value added product – remember Fonterra IS the dairy farmer. The wheel will turn full circle and the boom will go bust if things don’t change; Fonterra will never realise its potential as a world market leader while it is run by those dairy farmers who are driven purely by minimising costs to maximise payout.
My parents own a dairy farm which is just out of Auckland. We go there often for holidays as it’s a coastal block.
They have had various sharemilkers on the property over the years. The last one was a real b****** who not only assaulted people but starved his animals (sheep included) and let good stock die for no reason.
The usual argument put up by farmers PR people is that farmers won’t do this because it makes economic sense to look after your animals and the land.
Well that’s just BS in my opinion. These guys do what they do because they can and they want to. It also makes sense to do the wrong thing money wise too sometimes, like letting effluent go into streams and/or lakes because it’s too much hassle to deal with it the right way.
Anonymous by email
Crafers are not the only ones that farm in this fashion. When we were farming, the job stories amongst farm workers at get togethers would make your hair stand on end.
A few years ago my husband and I worked for a large scale farmer on the Napier-Taupo highway. Photos and complaints that I made were taken with a grain of salt.
It was very disheartening, that the people we are supposed to turn to for support in these matters were absolutely useless. This is actually an understatement.
These people are allowed to continue their farming practices today. Many, many animals have sadly lost their lives through disgusting cruelty.
A few snippets; Heavily pregnant cows arriving by truck in the middle of the night. Dead cows trying to calf during the trip or we had to help calf them after the truck left.
Excessive amount of yearlings paralysed after giving birth, due to the pinched nerve as calf was too big. Impregnated with semen of an animal that the yearling had no show of delivering.
Starved cows dropping and stumbling in the raceway while trying to walk to the cowshed.
Watching the owner leaning a rifle on a post outside the cowshed shooting cows as they walked out of the shed, making statements such as “don’t like the look of that one.”
Bus load of tourists will be arriving this afternoon, go around the farm, kill all the cows that are down and can’t get up. The only way to kill them was the guys used to club them to death with a 4×2.
I ordered a stun gun and owner cancelled order cos the cost was to high.
There are many stories. Spca did not even visit.
Local vets that I called to tend sick animals did not want to be involved. I was told not to call the vet as it is too expensive. MAF sent a letter advising of visit, they visited and saw all the photos but did nothing. This farmer is on a par with Crafer. There is plenty of evidence even today of his farming practices.
Where I’m coming from
Some people may wonder why I’m spending a lot of time on this. After all, the focus of this site is economic and financial news, rather than animal welfare.
Firstly, this something our readers have been commenting about on our site for months, particularly in relation to the growing debt in the dairy industry. The events at Crafar Farms and the evidence from ‘Just another farmer’ have also given encouraged us to look more deeply at this issue.
But there is a personal angle here.
I grew up on a dairy farm at Galatea near Rotorua that had around 200 cows. My father was a dairy farmer on that farm. My grandfather converted that farm (a rehab farm) himself. My great grandfather was a dairy farmer in Taranaki. I studied agricultural economics at Massey University. I worked on our dairy farm on school holidays from the age of 12, often feeding calves. I worked on other dairy farms on university holidays until my early 20s. My brother is a dairy farm worker.
I also have had a long professional interest in the dairy farm industry. I have been covering Fonterra as a journalist since 2004. I regularly talk to Fonterra executives and farmers.
New Zealand has a long and proud history of family-run dairy farms. The debt-driven growth Crafar Farms is not a proud moment in that history. We must ensure we can be just as proud of the next chapter in dairying, even if it includes very large herds and corporate farmers.
I fear, however, that the dairy industry is making it up as it goes along. Now is the time to take a breather and review whether the current direction is the right one.
Tags: Allan Crafar, Conversions, Crafar Farms, Dairying, David Carter, Fonterra, Henry van der Heyden, Murray Sherwin
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October 4th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Bernard,
Very interesting issue especially as it seems to be slightly off topic. However, given that the farming model has become a pure corporate beast backed by a huge debt leveraging model, it’s a fair target for examination.
Added to that is the huge impact to the NZ economy of agriculture.
It is the debt leveraged finance model that drives the race to the bottom…the bottom line that is. “Sustainable” farming is simply sucked into the pit of debt, leverage and return as the inputs become simply commodities. Europe has seen its fair share of this model, especially in the pig industry and many changes have taken place there.
No doubt the lobbying power of corporate dairy has been applied with full force and liberal use of the favorite argument (too big/important to fail).
There is no reason why NZ cannot have the best farming systems in the world. It has the expertise and the inputs to operate in that fashion. But the easy buck will always capture people’s attention (just as it has done with housing as a tax advantaged commodity) but in the long run the true cost will be charged.
But most decisions in business are not taken for the long run, especially when the debt monster is screaming for its monthly feed of compounding interest.
As a policy proposal I’d like to suggest environmental contingency bonds as a way of charging for pollution and other such externalities. This may help to drive behaviour in a different direction.
Good luck with this issue.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
This is revolting. Many thanks to Bernard for breaking this story. It seems greed and slack or captured regulatory authorities are not confined to the banking industry.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Bernard, the Ministry for the Environment in preparing the State of the Environment Report 2007 – did indeed look into the rate of conversion of pasture to dairy – coming to the conclusion that this was unsustainable and required regulatory intervention.
The chapter on this matter in the report got pulled by Trevor Mallard. Here’s the transcript from Hansard;
4. JEANETTE FITZSIMONS (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister for the Environment: Which conclusions in draft chapter 13 of the state of the environment report was he referring to when he reportedly said on Monday that the chapter had been scrapped because it made a series of conclusions that were not strictly supported by the facts?
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister for the Environment) : Peer review of the draft chapter made it clear that the qualitative nature of some of the statements in draft chapter 13 was not in line with the factual nature of the report. One such example is: “the sheer scale of existing pastoral land-use in New Zealand combined with recent record dairy returns mean that intensification of land use is likely to continue to pose a significant challenge to our environment for some time, even if stringent pricing and regulatory regimes are agreed and put in place.” The report did not contain quantitative analysis to support the statement. No such economic analysis of dairy returns had been undertaken in the report. The report contains no analysis of the effect of pricing and regulatory regimes on land use. Such interpretation extends beyond the scope of a retrospective, facts-based report.
Jeanette Fitzsimons: Is not that very example the one I put to him in my question yesterday, and he agreed vehemently that he agreed with that conclusion?
Hon TREVOR MALLARD: Yes, we can agree with an argument. It is a different thing for a department to present an argument as a fact.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
I’m less worried about water degradation: I have a hard time buying a story that the environmental watchdogs came out of the last nine years starved for funds to keep things in line.
Only 4 animal welfare officers and lots of evidence of widespread abuse and neglect? That’s a different beast entirely. What, if anything, would stop Fonterra from chipping in for a few more animal welfare guys whose sole job would be checking up on Fonterra farms? Cost wouldn’t be that high and could stave off PR disaster.
October 4th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
“It’s worth remembering that Allan Crafar was so popular within the industry that he was on Fonterra’s Shareholders Council for 6 years until 2007. His right hand man, Sam Webb, was Central Plateau Farm Manager of the Year in 2007. He also won the RD1 Farm Management Award and the Dairy Insight Human Resources Management Award.”
Grafar, a pin up boy for the unfettered freemarketeer lobbiests in the industry that are looking for maximum short-term gain from trading farms, not longterm fair and reasonable profit from the producing and selling of dairy products, result, just another sector of society rooted by short-term greed over long-term sustainable societal benefit.
October 4th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
in addition to http://www.interest.co.nz/ratesblog/index.php/2009/10/04/opinion-mounting-evidence-demands-inquiry-into-large-herd-dairy-farms/#comment-40326
the short-term maximum profiteers would claim it is their freemarket right to accumulate and sell as many farms as they wish to who ever they want, no matter the implications for the rest of society, even if that mean’t foreign agricultural trusts aquiring all of our means of production and exporting their food back to their countries. This is a position that those that have for a longtime now run this nation from behind the diplomatic curtain or the drivers seat would support.
October 5th, 2009 at 8:07 am
I heard David Carter this morning on Radio Live, in essence he said,
‘Yeah folks we will check this starvation thing out, but there is really nothing to see here, move along. As yet no overseas news station has picked this up. Sshhh everybody and all will be well.’
Listen to us David. Rural society know what is going on. As a previous poster has said, you get us together and we share horror stories.
Is it not constructive, is it not a better thing to do, to take ownership of these problems. Stand up and say well yes we do have some problems, we will fix this, good animal welfare is important to the dairy industry and we will hunt out those that dont comply.
For a multibillion export earner, we will fund sufficient inspectors, we will fund education, we will demand Fonterra does its part. We will prosecute to the full extent of the law those that are caught, and we will do our utmost to catch them.
However what do we hear from Fonterra and Govt:
1 Yes this was a bad instance, but it was unusual.
2 Farmers are a good bunch and dont do this sort of thing
3 We are clean and green and all love our animals
4 Be confident folks, its ok out there.
This is bullshit, and you dont do Dairy Farming NZ any favours by continuing the lie.
There is now an enormous segment of the community that have seen too many ugly things.
Farm owners, sharemilkers, workers, family members, vets, bobby truck drivers, stock truck drivers, rural servicepeople, ie electricians, pump maintenance workers, cowshed plant technicians, ab technicians, fencers, fertiliser reps, power company employees, etc etc etc.
Why is not much reported? Because our livelihoods are on the line. And we know we can lose that if we speak up.
Perhaps if our farming leaders acknowledge this problem exists, then the little guy will take strength from that and either talk to the farmer or actively report it.
October 5th, 2009 at 8:18 am
Behind the explosive growth of dairy farming and the consequent environmental and welfare issues is Fonterra’s inability to change it’s structure. Currently farmers are paid, in a variety of ways, to produce milk. But all the NZ industry does is remove the water, ship the various dry products overseas and sell it to people who add water to it – hardly a sustainable model! Andrew Ferrier has said that he aims for half of Fonterra’s milk to come from non-NZ sources and Fonterra will earn a return on the collection and sale of the products – yet the only way the NZ farmer gets to enjoy this return is when the milk payout increases.
20 years ago the Dairy Board knew that they had too much milk to sell and the last 10% of the season was sold at a loss. Until Fonterra states clearly that they do not need any more milk from NZ then the drive to more and larger farms will continue
October 5th, 2009 at 8:27 am
“It’s time for the government, MAF, Fonterra, Federated Farmers and DairyNZ to step up and launch an official inquiry”….yeah sure…..what they will do is launch an official cover up and BS programme, wrapped up in an advertising blitz showing cheerful cows dancing round a milking shed singing “Carter’s a jolly good Minnnnnnnnnnisssssssssster, and so say all of us, and so say all of us”
October 5th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Yes never going to happen
All this is a dead story ,
‘Yeah folks we will check this starvation thing out, but there is really nothing to see here, move along. As yet no overseas news station has picked this up. Sshhh everybody and all will be well.’
October 5th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Good on you Bernard, for asking the tough questions. We’ve been asking these questions for years, but have been shrugged off as “anti-farming”, which is patently false. We’d love to see a return to family-run farming, and the protection of the few that are left but are being squeezed into unsustainable practices by the banks and the corporates.
Dairy NZ’s own research shows that the big herd, factory model is not only unsustainable, but unprofitable over the long run, despite some short-run scores on the board. It’s a farce, and having a respected money commentator flag the issue is excellent.
October 5th, 2009 at 10:42 am
hmmm…. what industry does not make it up as they go along?
Making it up is only a problem when things go wrong.
Just what we need, more processes and more regulation…… I thought people on this site wanted less of that?
Please remember, everytime someone complains, someone tries to write a rule/law to fix it. Look what has happened with the building industry, do we really want our farmers filling out 9 pages of forms just to be able to milk cows?
October 5th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Looking forward to Fonterra taking the lead in all of this. Have a look at the latest figures from the Clean Stream Accord and the excellent paper prepared by Neal Deans (Fish & Game Auckand/Waikato) and Kevin Hackwell (Forest & Bird). Recreational anglers have been on to the whole dairy (un)environmental issue since I was knee high to a grasshopper.
http://www.fishandgame.org.nz/includes/download.aspx?ID=97628
October 5th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Paul,
As you seem to refer to the building industry regulations being increased during the last few years, and seem to think that is a bad thing, I suppose you’d prefer to live in a leaky and rotting house?
All this talk about too much regulation, you have no idea what regulation is until you grew up and learned a trade or profession in a European country. Preferably in Germany or Austria, then you will know what real regulation is!!
Come on people, you can’t have it both ways, no regulation and almost zero compliance costs and a perfect world. If you think you can, dream on. And let’s not get started with what happened to training young people through proper apprenticeships the old fashioned way. There is yet another subject that’s sure to have had an impact on our level of knowledge in every profession you can think of.
Sadly, I think there has been so much cutting back everywhere in the name of corporate profits, many good skills and attitudes have disappeared years ago…
October 5th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Paul, we have all the rules and regulations necessary now I think. But not enough maf staff to implement them.
October 5th, 2009 at 11:39 am
ctnz – the funny thing is, I have worked in environmental regulation in europe. The next funny thing, Just another Farmer has hit on the problem, no matter how many rules you have, it means nothing if you do not have people enforcing them. New rules mean nothing. Would be interesting to see how many enforcement people are actually present in NZ covering these issues? I know we have to have a catch up as enforcement is not something that NZ has had much of, i.e. no policeman, then you think you are not braking any rules.
Funny thing I note from my 3-4 years contracting to the Environment Agency in the UK, they had about 12 guys covering the Thames Valley and greater london area…….but they did have plenty of rules rolling in from the EU. Did they achieve much……nope.
As for the building side of thing, I would prefer that the person building my home to be accountable for what they do, and I would also like to think that I am accountable for what i buy and the checks that I do prior to purchasing.
Just focus on what Just another Farmer is saying, not on complaining for tighter rules, or changes. The natural response is only going to be in writing new rules. Looks at the anti-smacking stuff, the issues are more about having the resources to deal with the problem, not just technicalities in the rules etc. If 9 million was put into a bank account and the interest provided for another 5-6 full time staff, I am sure they would have had more effect on abused kids than on creating new laws/rules.
October 5th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Grant
How is the model you describe unsustainable? Should more cows be milked in South East Asia, the Indian subcontinent or Arabian Peninsular? Milk requires lots of water to produce, something we have in abundance here, halting production here and moving it nearer to the consumer will only have negative environmental consequenses.
October 5th, 2009 at 11:55 am
And in Canterbury, a big driver of dairy conversions was – quelle surprise – public Gumnut policy. To wit: the dopey decision to socialise carbon credits in forests, and privatise costs. Result: the owners took an entirely rational decision to mulch their pine plantations before the deforestation penalty deadline, and hock them off as prime dairy acreage. The proof: just look at where Synlait’s plant sits, south of Christchurch. Used to be stone farms and pine plantations. 100% dairy, now.
More than one villain in this plotline…..
October 5th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Bernard you said:
I fear, however, that the dairy industry is making it up as it goes along. Now is the time to take a breather and review whether the current direction is the right one.
The right direction or not, we are going there.
Do not expect anything from fonterra, most directors have major interest in factory farming.
The banks have all made their commitments in this direction.
NZ hates regulation with a passion so that is no option.
The only thing I can see to stop this direction is a drop in landprices or a longer period with no increase in landprices.
The only driver of all this has been CAPITAL GAIN not the love of farming.
So only by removing those two words will farming be given back to the farmer.
October 5th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Our dairy hope is in Asia and other developing countries but should they be drinking milk at all?
http://www.raceandhistory.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/14
Latte anyone?
October 5th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
We look in horror at bear farming in Asia, yet not far from us may be cows and their calves living lives of equal misery.
In the last 20 years – in the eyes of some farm owners – cows have gone from being animals that feel pain and deserve good husbandry to mere dispensible components in a dairy factory farm.
http://brightwings.typepad.com/bright_wings/2009/10/have-cows-become-factory-farming-components.html
October 5th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
AndrewJ
I am sure the Chinese and Indians are quite capable of deciding for themselves whether or not they want to eat dairy products
October 5th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Matt:
It is unsustainable because it is uneconomic. And more milk NZ produces, the lower the payout.
October 5th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Not sure about an inquiry. They tend to go up that one way road that leads to thjat place called Nowhere.
As an interested outsider looking in over the years it seems to me that corporates or more importantly the corporate approach to business doesn’t work in the farming industry — be it dairy , sheep , trees , horses whatever. I think some of this is due to the fact that it is tax breaks , the dream of capital gain but not some sort of affinity to the land or the animals that drives the big boys into the enterprise and so it doesn’t work.
October 5th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Is it not funny how history repeats itself, even in the farming industry…
Rememeber the beef boom yrs of the mid to late 70s and what was refered to as the “Queen St Farmers ” back then?
October 5th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Is it uneconomic? It is servicing extreme debt levels that is kneecapping many dairy farms. Overseas diary farms can not operate at a surplus at current prices but here even the highest cost farmers still recieve more for their milk than it costs to produce it.
October 5th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Matt:
Whether dairy farming is economic depends a lot on its location in relation to population. NZ has a problem in that our location requires converting most of our production into commodities (milk powders, chesse, butter, casein) when the more profitable products are fresh – milk, yoghurt, cream, etc.
The very high cost of dairy assets is another major factor – whether to ROI or through debt servicing.
In NZ the cost of producing milk has been, and still is, getting closer to what is received for it i.e. costs are going up faster than payout. And that before debt servicing.
Unfortunately for NZ some countries are now producing milk at costs where they can make a surplus at current world prices. NZ has moved to being a mid-cost milk producer.
October 5th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
“Is it uneconomic? It is servicing extreme debt levels that is kneecapping many dairy farms.”
No not when things are on the up and booming…
But when the ‘boom’ ends reality of overleverging then comes into play….
The difference between short term greed and long term lifestyle/ business practice.
There are a lot of farmers out there who have over the decades have picked up a few of the neighbours properties…expanded their farms, staff….yet are still top notch farmers…and even thu they have ‘retired’ still live in the new big farm house on the property and keep their hand in…
These guys are old school, dont overleverage, love their animals….
They are not ‘want-a-be’ QueenSt farmers with a Lambo, and have a bean counter making policy.
October 5th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Matt,
I meant it was unsustainable simply from the water and energy use. Grow the milk in New Zealand, heat it to remove the water and vent the water to the atmosphere or use it to wash the plant. Then ship the dried milk overseas and add water to it to use it.
Surely that is using more water and energy than necessary. I agree that dairy farming uses a lot of water and dry countries may not have the same amount of water but, I believe that there are much more water efficient ways of dairy farming that water rich New Zealand has not explored.
Steptoe – the old guys who have retired don’t have any shares in Fonterra even though they spent their lives developing the company. Unless they set up a corporate farm they had to sell all their shares when they stopped producing milk.
October 5th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Good on you Bernard for chasing this up. There are many issues as have been canvassed already. The key one for me is the damage this is doing to the “100% PURE” NZ brand image. Unfortunately there is a lack of dedication to what this means from the leadership – and it seems from many participants in the dairy industry. Unfortunately for New Zealand as a whole, this is going to be bad news for all of our “100% PURE” related export industries.
Interesting to read that the wine industry is instituting 20% production cuts this season to maintain quality/price points.
October 5th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Matt – Professor Sir Peter Gluckman recently lectured at the Liggins Institute on evolutionary medicine – the gene mutations that have taken place over the millennia, and how our current living environment works with or against those mutations. One example he discussed was lactose intolerance, which in his view should be called ‘lactose tolerance’ since that condition is actually the abnormal one.
Lactose intolerance is the original condition. Research has found that a genetic mutation in Europe about 10,000 years ago enabled some early Europeans to tolerate cows’ milk. The assumption is that those with the mutation benefitted nutritionally and so more of them passed their genes on. A similar mutation occurred about 2,000 years ago in Africa. Most of the world’s population therefore don’t have the mutation, so don’t tolerate cows’ milk.
One has to wonder at the logic and ethics of Fonterra marketing a food to populations who genetically simply cannot metabolise it.
As for the Crafars and their ilk, there is only one thing to say – pure greed will eventually find its own downfall. In this world sadly, there is often much suffering first.
October 5th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Your request for an inquiry and your question list is more than timely Bernard. The Crafars are a more extreme example of the farming-by-exploitation system: exploitation of stock, staff and land. But too many dairy farming systems are still predicated on economics that require that they get inputs (particularly irrigation water) for less than cost, and/or get rid of waste so that someone somewhere else (or sometime else) has to pick up the tab.
What will cause those in power to carry out such an inquiry though? Crafars exploitative farming practices, and the impact that is yet to have on Lake Taupo (via groundwater), the impact it has had on rivers in the central plateau, soil health, stock health… have been inside industry knowledge for years. The Clean Streams accord gives farmers a much softer performance target and on a voluntary basis compared to what is expected from other land users such as foresters, yet there is no urge to put any teeth in it by Fonterra. When have they ever turned milk away for environmental or animal health reasons? I’m only aware of it being rejected for somatic cell, tainting, or antibiotic contamination. So where would the necessary push come from? Environmental sustainability (effluent treatment and water use) are the role of regional councils but pressure comes on to leave farming alone, or continue to use encouragement rather than enforcement- where the pace of change is mighty slow. Fish and Game, regional council science staff, NIWA and others can tell you:
1.Are we using water properly? Are large herd dairy farmers paying a fair price for that water? NO Is there a system to charge a fair price for that water? NO and look at Environment Canterbury’s recent council chairman changes to see what happens when big irrigation is upset.
5.Is the intensification of land use, particularly through nitrate leaching, destroying our waterways? YES – particularly groundwater – and we are looking at more than 100 years before it starts to recover. Ask about the Rotorua lakes expected ground water recovery and the nutrients expected to still hit Lake Taupo through groundwater.
9.Is MAF focused too much on enabling growth in output and not enough on monitoring sustainability? Well what are their sustainability measures? – are they relying on Ministry for the Environment to collect them? – and be shut down because the figures don’t look nice?
10.Is Fonterra monitoring the quality of its suppliers/shareholders closely enough? Are its penalties and sanctions for suppliers strong enough? NO
October 6th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Bernard, you have done a stellar job raising this issue, in good time. This unfortunately is the tip of an iceberg, of poor environmental stewardship, animal mis treatment, and unsound husbandry is present. This sort of malaise in the industry is more widespread than just on the Crafar farms!! How much milk comes to Fonterra from properties where there are absentee owners, and non engaged labour teams under high levels of stress, are as many of the emails have suggested.
The big issue here, is that if Crafars are forced to sell, that this will not solve the problem, it will NOT GO AWAY as David Carter might be hoping. Another corporate will buy, and the industry does not have sound self management or education in place to drive change to lift standards.
Unfortunately our “clean green NZ dairy industry has no checks and balances, and in the case of a debt burdened industry, there is huge pressure for continued intensification, exploitation, and continued envronmental degradation.
There is no overarching body, nationally that checks the entire milk industry for sound agricultural practice. Many schemes are voluntary, and to a large degree, there is a lack pressure to ensure sound animal welfare practises, and environmental stewardship.
The Government is choosing to enhance the ability for foreign ownership to occur.
This will allow international purchasing of our debt burdened dairy farms.
This may lead to new processers, buying clusters of farms.
What will be the controls over them? – Who will monitor the on farm practises, and ensure GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTISE is being carried out?
Fonterra, our own NZ company cannot even demonstrate signals to good industry practise,transparently, on many of its suppliers farms.
It pays the polluter and poor husbandry operator the same as the good farmer – WHAT SORT OF SIGNAL IS THAT!!!!
Keep up the pressure – This is a huge issue, and we are all very concerned.
October 6th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
The Mackenzie Basin development is another huge worry.
Internal water bodies, all within leaching distance of these dairy farms and 22,000 cows?
I suppose they will do the maths with overseer( nutrient budgeting model) in development mode – suggesting that the soil will absorb a significant level of N for the first 10 years.( so initial leachate may appear to be 25 kg N/ha.)
What happens when the leaching from 3.5 cows/ha on these soils begins, when the farm moves to developed mode in overseer in 10 years time – Who will be standing up and telling these guys to de convert back to a deer farm, because the tourists no longer like visiting the South, as they have to drive past all these khaki green lakes. No longer glacial blue.
We are so short sighted. Is ECAN so desperate for money it sells its iconic landscapes for more short term gain? This is hideous.
My kids and their kids would like to see the iconic landscapes we grew up with. Can nothing be kept sacred in this country?
October 7th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Muldoon must be laughing from the grave .Sheep were much easier on the enviroment and when you look at the dairy debt the conversions have achieved nothing but the loss of our farmland to foreigners.
and a lamb roast is now a luxury
October 7th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Since European arrival, New Zealand’s wealth had been “extracted” from the commons to the detriment of the nation. Seals, whales, gold, timber, minerals and now, finally, water.
We may have to recognize that it is in the genes … the quick-rich schemes to (as Christine says) get inputs (particularly irrigation water) for less than cost, and/or get rid of waste so that someone somewhere else (or sometime else) has to pick up the tab.
Why have our political leaders not moved to protect the commons? Because they have been and are prime beneficiaries of the exploitation. They retain power by buying votes. They sell the nation’s natural wealth to pay for the baubles (sorry Winston) with which they bribe the electorate.
October 14th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
These BIG Farms are Coursing a HUGE Problem to Our Soils:
Healthy Soils Equal’s Water Health The Great Carbon Con
We are having the Carbon pulled over our eyes. Is the Climate change due to Carbon or are there other more sinister gases which we breath that are causing Global Warming .
Google what’s in the air we breath .We all breath in : Argon 0.93%, Oxygen 20.95%,Nitrogen @ 78.08% and Carbon dioxide @ only 0.038% such a small amount !
So I ask the Question Carbon at so low a rate .038% why is this being targeted as the Source of all the Worlds problems . Look at Nitrogen 78.08% and a Green house GAS 310 times worse than CO2 and our intensified Farming practices are pouring on 10,000’s kg of Nitrogen per year on to pasture that doesn’t need it or either can’t coup with it so that over 50% of applied N ends up in the Air we Breath as Nitrous oxide and the rest passes through our over supplied soils as Nitrates into our Water ways which we Drink.
When the soil is over supplied with Nitrogen Nature Shuts Down and doesn’t do it’s job , Earth Worms die off and Bacteria changes when we loose EARTH Worms we end up with Very HIGH Counts of E-Coli in out Drinking Water and Food Chain . Lack of Large Colonies of Healthy Earth Worm’s Means Fertilisers get Locked up in the Soil so Farmers keep needing to pore more on to get, the same results as what Nature can give them for far Less Cost or Pollution . Earth Worm Cast’s gives your Pasture 7 Times more soil Nutrients than Chemical Fertilisers can .
Other sources of Nitrous Oxide are also coming from burning of Auto Fuel’s in car’s etc, at what figure is this happening ?
I want to know is Nitrous Oxide coming from the burning of Fossil Fuels greater than CO2 ?
Wake up (is it Carbon) which is doing the Deed to our Climate or is it the Chemical Industries feeding our Farmers the Poison’s of there Mind’s . Nature doesn’t need all this added Nitrogen and Super Phosphates Acid based Fertilisers ,which Won’t Grow Healthy Soils and Crop’s or Live Stock !
Healthy Soils will store (Sink) 3 Times more Carbon than the Atmosphere can .
So Why are We Letting them do it ? Karl150
October 14th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Karl150
Because Kiwi’s politically think old fashion either blue or red, right or left and everything in between is suspicious- doesn’t help to make money- especially green.
While longer term, it is the opposite I agree with you, only a clean green NZ policy/ economy guaranties prosperity.
March 5th, 2010 at 9:35 am
If you’re in a not good position and have got no money to get out from that, you will need to take the mortgage loans. Because it would aid you definitely. I get term loan every single year and feel OK just because of that.